11 research outputs found
Exchange Interactions and High-Energy Spin States in Mn_12-acetate
We perform inelastic neutron scattering measurements on the molecular
nanomagnet Mn_12-acetate to measure the excitation spectrum up to 45meV (500K).
We isolate magnetic excitations in two groups at 5-6.5meV (60-75K) and
8-10.5meV (95-120K), with higher levels appearing only at 27meV (310K) and
31meV (360K). From a detailed characterization of the transition peaks we show
that all of the low-energy modes appear to be separate S = 9 excitations above
the S = 10 ground state, with the peak at 27meV (310K) corresponding to the
first S = 11 excitation. We consider a general model for the four exchange
interaction parameters of the molecule. The static susceptibility is computed
by high-temperature series expansion and the energy spectrum, matrix elements
and ground-state spin configuration by exact diagonalization. The theoretical
results are matched with experimental observation by inclusion of cluster
anisotropy parameters, revealing strong constraints on possible parameter sets.
We conclude that only a model with dominant exchange couplings J_1 ~ J_2 ~
5.5meV (65K) and small couplings J_3 ~ J_4 ~ 0.6meV (7K) is consistent with the
experimental data.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figure
Magnetic energy-level diagrams of high-spin (Mn-acetate) and low-spin (V) molecules
The magnetic energy-level diagrams for models of the Mn12 and V15 molecule
are calculated using the Lanczos method with full orthogonalization and a
Chebyshev-polynomial-based projector method. The effect of the
Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction on the appearance of energy-level repulsions
and its relevance to the observation of steps in the time-dependent
magnetization data is studied. We assess the usefulness of simplified models
for the description of the zero-temperature magnetization dynamics
The self-organized critical forest-fire model on large scales
We discuss the scaling behavior of the self-organized critical forest-fire
model on large length scales. As indicated in earlier publications, the
forest-fire model does not show conventional critical scaling, but has two
qualitatively different types of fires that superimpose to give the effective
exponents typically measured in simulations. We show that this explains not
only why the exponent characterizing the fire-size distribution changes with
increasing correlation length, but allows also to predict its asymptotic value.
We support our arguments by computer simulations of a coarse-grained model, by
scaling arguments and by analyzing states that are created artificially by
superimposing the two types of fires.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figure
Magnetic Anisotropy in the Molecular Complex V15
We apply degenerate perturbation theory to investigate the effects of
magnetic anisotropy in the magnetic molecule V15. Magnetic anisotropy is
introduced via Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction in the full Hilbert space
of the system. Our model provides an explanation for the rounding of
transitions in the magnetization as a function of applied field at low
temperature, from which an estimate for the DM interaction is found. We find
that the calculated energy differences of the lowest energy states are
consistent with the available data. Our model also offers a novel explanation
for the hysteretic nature of the time-dependent magnetization data.Comment: Final versio
Evaluation of geriatric assessment in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia: Results of the CLL9 trial of the German CLL study group
Multidimensional geriatric assessment (GA) has been demonstrated to predict outcomes in older patients with cancer. This study evaluated GA in a cohort of older patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Seventy-five of 97 subjects with CLL who were enrolled in a clinical trial of the German CLL Study Group underwent GA prior to the start of study treatment (low-dose chemotherapy with fludarabine). GA included cumulative illness rating scale (CIRS), timed-up-and-go (TUG) test, dementia detection (DEMTECT) test and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) index. There was little correlation between CIRS, TUG, DEMTECT or IADL results and treatment toxicity, feasibility or efficacy in this study. CIRS and IADL had no statistically significant impact on overall prognosis. However, under-performance in TUG or DEMTECT test was strongly associated with poor survival. The latter findings provide a rationale to further investigate geriatric assessment in CLL and in the context with other CLL treatments
Plasmodium falciparum infection reshapes the human microRNA profiles of red blood cells and their extracellular vesicles
Summary: Plasmodium falciparum, a human malaria parasite, develops in red blood cells (RBCs), which represent approximately 70% of all human blood cells. Additionally, RBC-derived extracellular vesicles (RBC-EVs) represent 7.3% of the total EV population. The roles of microRNAs (miRNAs) in the consequences of P. falciparum infection are unclear. Here, we analyzed the miRNA profiles of non-infected human RBCs (niRBCs), ring-infected RBCs (riRBCs), and trophozoite-infected RBCs (trRBCs), as well as those of EVs secreted from these cells. Hsa-miR-451a was the most abundant miRNA in all RBC and RBC-EV populations, but its expression level was not affected by P. falciparum infection. Overall, the miRNA profiles of RBCs and their EVs were altered significantly after infection. Most of the differentially expressed miRNAs were shared between RBCs and their EVs. A target prediction analysis of the miRNAs revealed the possible identity of the genes targeted by these miRNAs (CXCL10, OAS1, IL7, and CCL5) involved in immunomodulation
Evaluation of geriatric assessment in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia: Results of the CLL9 trial of the German CLL study group
Pathogenic variants in CLXN encoding the outer dynein arm docking–associated calcium-binding protein calaxin cause primary ciliary dyskinesia
Purpose: Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a heterogeneous disorder that includes respiratory symptoms, laterality defects, and infertility caused by dysfunction of motile cilia. Most PCD-causing variants result in abnormal outer dynein arms (ODAs), which provide the generative force for respiratory ciliary beating and proper mucociliary clearance. Methods: In addition to studies in mouse and planaria, clinical exome sequencing and functional analyses in human were performed. Results: In this study, we identified homozygous pathogenic variants in CLXN (EFCAB1/ODAD5) in 3 individuals with laterality defects and respiratory symptoms. Consistently, we found that Clxn is expressed in mice left-right organizer. Transmission electron microscopy depicted ODA defects in distal ciliary axonemes. Immunofluorescence microscopy revealed absence of CLXN from the ciliary axonemes, absence of the ODA components DNAH5, DNAI1, and DNAI2 from the distal axonemes, and mislocalization or absence of DNAH9. In addition, CLXN was undetectable in ciliary axonemes of individuals with defects in the ODA-docking machinery: ODAD1, ODAD2, ODAD3, and ODAD4. Furthermore, SMED-EFCAB1-deficient planaria displayed ciliary dysmotility. Conclusion: Our results revealed that pathogenic variants in CLXN cause PCD with defects in the assembly of distal ODAs in the respiratory cilia. CLXN should be referred to as ODA-docking complex–associated protein ODAD5